Cawston mum’s business skills pay off for hair care company

She had a busy life anyway - but a mother of two young children from Cawston has launched a business importing a product which she says could revolutionise the way people care for their hair.

Inma Fuentes-Grant, 34, was so impressed after using a hair treatment on a visit to her native Spain, she took the plunge to start her own company and become its sole UK importer.

Yet she also had her family to consider - which gave her pause for thought.

Inma said: “I am very excited about the business but I don’t want to compromise the time I spend with my two boys.”

She was attracted to the product because it seemed to helped her get could get ready in much less time every morning.

And when Inma tried to find a salon near Rugby which used it she found out it was not available in this country. That set in motion her plans to start Keratin Silken and a year later she is ready to offer the product, called Suprema, to hairdressing salons.

Inma is married to Frazer and has two sons, Nathan, eight, and Alex, five.

And it has been a frustrating wait for Inma from getting the initial idea for the business and waiting for the final product to be delivered to the UK.

The Spanish manufacturers were keen to ensure it was completely free of formaldehyde after scare stories circulated last year about similar hair care treatments which contained the carbon compound, which can cause irritations to the nose and eyes and is thought to be a cause of cancer.

There were several false starts with the delivery of the product before 400 bottles arrived last month.

Inma said: “There was a point when I thought it was never going to happen. It was very frustrating because I couldn’t go to hairdressers and say ‘I have this wonderful new product’ because I didn’t really know when it was going to arrive.”

Inma says it used to take her an hour and 20 minutes to wash her hair and straighten it in the morning – now it just takes 20 minutes.

“It is basically impossible to spend 80 minutes on your hair in the morning when you have kids. This year is the first year ever I have been able to leave my hair down because the product keeps it straighter for such a long time,” said Inma, who hails from Alicante and who moved to England at the age of 22.

“I don’t even have pictures of myself because I didn’t like my hair when I had to tie it up all the time.”

Inma has the full backing of her husband, who runs a specialist business training company, and her two brothers in Spain although her mother, Conchi, is worried how she will manage the business with the demands of looking after her young sons.

Inma, though, has no doubts she can cope and she has plans to expand her product line. She heartily recommends other mums starting up a business.

“They should choose something they feel inspired by and which fits in with their personal circumstances and their home life,” she added.

“Doing something for yourself gives you a sense of identity and it is energising and motivating.”

And she added with a chuckle: “It is something you can do between feeds.”